The Stranger Gift
by Rex180
Summary: It's the day after Christmas, 1983, and Mike is about to discover an unusual gift.


**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** **This is my first attempt at writing a fanfiction piece. It is not to be taken seriously - it is purely for fun. I own none of the material that has been mentioned or used. I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

Mike woke up on the day after Christmas, feeling as if he could never face another piece of turkey in his life. He had had a good day with his family- opening presents and generally eating too much - but he was looking forward to his three best friends coming over to visit. They would compare presents, argue about whose was best, and then they would settle down to play an epic game of Dungeons and Dragons. He decided to go down to the basement and set up the game so that it would be ready when his friends arrived.

When he reached the basement stairs he looked down and something caught his eye on the basement floor - something that had never been there before... he went down to take a closer look. It was a trapdoor! He stared at it in amazement. Then he saw a piece of paper on the trapdoor. He picked it up and read:

 _Dear Mike_

 _I know you have lost someone dear to you, I hope this somewhat cheers you up._

 _PS_

 _Please go down now and follow the instructions_

 _From a friend_

Mike didn't know what to think, but his curiosity got the better of him. He put down the piece of paper and pulled the trapdoor open and looked into it. There was a ladder going down but he couldn't see the bottom. Mike suddenly felt the thrill of adventure rushing through him! He climbed onto the ladder and as soon as his feet touched the metal, lights turned on to reveal that the bottom was not far down. He descended slowly... when he reached the bottom he found himself in a corridor, the walls and floor of which were completely white. At the other end he could see a door. He started walking towards it, not knowing what to expect on the other side.

When he went through it he found himself in a extremely large room with absolutely nothing in it! Everything was completely white. No windows, but there was another door on the opposite side. Mike continued to look around and noticed something on the floor. On closer inspection he saw two pieces of paper and a small object he did not recognise: On the pieces of paper were written the numbers 1 and 2. Deciding that the pieces of paper were probably less dangerous than the unknown object, he walked over and picked up the piece with the number 1 on it. He turned it over and on the other side were the words:

" _When you're finished, tell your friends. Oh, and pick up the second one_."

Mike dropped the paper and picked up the second one. On this one were the words:

" _Pick up the DynoCap, push down the trigger, throw it on the on floor, get out of the room and wait for the smoke to clear._ "

Mike picked up the small object and pushed down the trigger. He threw it into the centre of the room and ran out. Shortly after there was a popping sound. The door shut itself and words appeared on the wall saying:

" _Tell your friends_."

Mike rushed up the ladder, closed the trapdoor and ran up to his room slamming the door behind him. He ran to his bedside table and took out his walkie-talkie, extending the aerial.

"Lucas! Lucas! Are you there? Over." Mike shouted.

A few seconds later Lucas responded, "Mike! What is it? Over."

"You need to get over here right now. Over!" Lucas could hear the urgency in Mike's voice.

"Okay. I'll collect Will and Dustin on my way. Over."

"Okay," replied Mike. "Get here as soon as possible! Meet me in the basement. Over."

Mike was pacing up and down the basement bursting with excitement. He had tried to reopen the trapdoor but it wouldn't budge. He hoped that the trapdoor would open once his friends arrived. After what seemed an eternity there was a knock on the door. Mike raced back up the stairs and flung open the door.

"Finally! What took you guys so long?" he shouted.

"Have you been sneaking the egg nog or something? We came straight over – what's going on?"

"Get in here," said Mike, yanking Dustin and the other two inside. They stopped, staring down in amazement at the trapdoor.

"Uh…Mike… how long has that been there?" Dustin asked uncertainly.

"That's why I called you over," said Mike.

He then told them the story of how he had seen the trapdoor and what was inside. Once he had finished, there was a silence.

Lucas said, "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go down and have a look!"

Mike crouched down and took hold of the ring. He pulled and to his relief it opened.

"I'll go down first," said Mike. The rest nodded as Mike started to climb down. Again, as soon as he got onto the ladder, lights turned on. He descended quickly and looked at the door. To his surprise there was now a sign above it.

Reading and Watching (Least Exciting Room)

There was a scuffle at the top of the ladder as each boy tried to be the first to follow Mike down. Eventually it was Dustin who stood next to Mike, followed by the others. They stood and stared as Mike took hold of the handle and slowly opened the door…

This time there was no fighting to be first in the room. Mike entered and the others followed slowly. This is what they saw as they stepped into the room: It looked larger than it had earlier; they could see the door on the other side, but now there were shelves on either side reaching all the way up to the ceiling with paths running in between.

"Guys? What is this place?" Dustin asked in a whisper.

 **"This is the reading and watching room,"** a voice said.

They all froze; Mike found his voice first.

"Who said that?" he asked.

 **"I am frightfully sorry, I should have introduced myself: I am Walter, the Artificial Intelligence that runs this facility, however if you want to know where you are I can show you a map…"**

In front of them appeared a Blue 3D image. Too stunned to talk, they walked up to it. It showed the ladder and the corridor. But it also showed four rooms all connected in a straight line. The map also showed the names of the rooms. The first room was called The Reading and Watching Room. The second was called The Super Room, the third The Garage and the final one was The Storage Room. The map, however, did not show what the rooms contained.

"Excuse me can we get a more detailed map, Walter?" Mike asked uncertainly.

 **"Certainly Sir. What room do you want more detailed?"**

"All of them," said Mike. The hologram turned red.

 **"I'm sorry sir but my protocols are preventing me from showing you what is in the rooms until you have explored the rest of the facility. However, I can show you what is in this room and The Storage Room."**

The map zoomed into the first room showing each shelf and each path. And words now appeared showing what appeared to be the different sections of the room. There seemed to be three main sections: The first and largest section was labelled ' _COMICS_ ', the second was ' _MANGA_ ', the third read ' _ANIME_ ' - both uncut. The boys looked at each other in confusion - they were excited to see the comic section, but 'manga" and 'anime' were things they had never heard of before. Mike wanted to go and find out what they were, but Will and Lucas overruled him and insisted that they continue exploring because there appeared to be smaller sections within the main ones.

Lucas said," Dudes, if we stop at every section we will never get to the end. Let's just keep going - Dustin, look at the comic section - it's divided up into DC Comics, something called The Mask and there at the end is Marvel. How cool is that!"

Will was looking closely at the DC section and he suddenly shouted out, "This is phenomenal! It looks as if every DC Comic in history is here - and they are all arranged in ages. Here is Golden Age, then Silver Age and next comes the Bronze Age! And here are all the Omnibuses!" They all stepped closer to look and then realised that there was another small section at the end called 'Crisis on Infinite Earths'.

"What do you think that is about?" asked Will, who was desperate to settle down and start reading.

"I promise we will come back and look at everything properly", said Lucas, "but for now we need to keep moving - remember: there were four rooms shown on the map and we are still only in the first one."

The boys all agreed and they moved towards the back of the room where they saw yet another door - but this one looked as though it was made of some kind of unearthly material that was absorbing all the light around it. It had a sign above it as well:

Super Room

Dustin squeaked, "That doesn't look safe!", but Mike said, "It can't really be a black hole or anything because, technically, we are still in my basement. I say we try to open it."

Dustin stepped back as the others moved towards the door, but as Mike got close to the strange entrance his outline started to shimmer and his body elongated as he was sucked towards it. Lucas grabbed Mike's feet, but as soon as he touched Mike's trainers, he started to shimmer and his body was stretched out of shape. Both boys were shouting as they disappeared. Will grabbed on to Lucas's jeans in the instant before he disappeared. Dustin hesitated - should he follow his friends into the unknown, or stay behind in this strange place that was no longer his best friend's basement? A split second later he gave a huge yell and grabbed on to Will's rucksack.

The next moment, all four boys recognised the high pitched ringing sound of the USS Enterprise's transporter room as they found themselves re-materialising on the other side of the door. The room in which they stood was not part of that legendary ship though - it looked like a high tech museum with glass cases encircling the room. But instead of mouldy old stuffed animals, the cases contained an assortment of super suits and other items that weren't immediately recognisable to the boys. The ones they did recognise were four Superman suits, each of which seemed to be tailor made for one of the boys (one was a little roomier around the waist than the others).

A second case contained four bright yellow super suits with four pairs of red gloves, four white capes and four pairs of red boots. In another case four black pocketbooks sat on top of a small table. On the cover of each book was written ' _Death Note_ '. As the boys stood looking round them, Lucas said,"Hey, have you guys noticed that there's four of everything in here - that must mean that there is one for each of us."

"No dude," said Dustin, "Look at this creepy thing over here - it's a mask, and there's only one."

In the meantime, Will was standing in front of four large, empty glass cases. "I wonder what's supposed to be in these?" he said with a puzzled frown.

"Maybe they have something to do with these," said Mike, who was standing next to a glass case that contained a table upon which were four very advanced looking wristbands. "Do you think these are some kind of fancy watches?"

 **"I realise that you still think that digital watches are a pretty neat idea, but those bands have absolutely nothing to do with telling the time. There are many things in this room that I will have to explain to you: I'm sure that you recognise the Superman suits in those cases over there, but perhaps you didn't know that these suits are from the Silver Age. When you put on the suit, you gain all the powers of Silver Age Superman - in other words the most powerful Superman of all time."**

"What!" shouted the boys, "Do you mean that we can wear the suits and become like Superman?"

 **"Certainly,"**

They all squealed with delight and high-fived each other. "That is so cool!" shouted Dustin.

"But wait," said Lucas, "Who do the yellow outfits belong to? What powers will they give us?"

 **"The yellow suits belong to Saitama, also known as One Punch Man, or The Caped Baldy."**

Will burst out laughing and said, "Oh great! When we wear the cool red booties we go bald!"

 **"No. The superhero in question is, in fact, bald, but his powers are super strength, super speed, near invulnerability."**

"But can he only punch once?" said Will, "That's a bit disappointing."

 **"No, he can punch as many times as he chooses to, but he rarely needs to punch more than once."**

"But what gives with the books?" asked Mike, who was staring at them through the glass. "Do you die if you read them?"

 **"No, however they all contain instructions that you can follow once you have access to them. Unfortunately my protocol does not allow me to give you that information now."**

Dustin asked, "Why is there only one of those creepy things? Where does it come from and what does it do if you put it on?"

 **"That is called 'The Mask'."**

"Oh, that's original!" said Dustin.

"No, wait a minute," said Lucas, "I saw something in the Comic section called "the Mask" - does this mask come from a comic book?"

 **"Technically yes, it does, however the one you see here comes from a film."**

"What does this one do?" asked Lucas.

 **"Well, the bad news is that when you wear the mask all of your inhibitions disappear. This can cause some unwanted consequences. The good news though, is that the wearer feels no pain no matter what injuries he might sustain. He can also shape shift into almost anything, including cartoon characters - no size is too big or too small."**

"You mean that if I put that thing on I could turn into Godzilla?" asked Mike.

"Or even the Demogorgon?" added Will.

 **"Yes, but you would be green."**

"Cool!" shouted the boys.

 **"You can create any item out of thin air, you can stretch any body part, move at super speed, you can fly, and the only weakness is if someone removes the mask from you by force. Technically, therefore, you will in fact be invulnerable, but this particular mask has also borrowed from the comic version, so that you also have a healing factor"**

"Wait, go back to 'stretch any body part'" exclaimed Dustin. "Do you mean stretch like Mr. Fantastic?"

 **"Exactly."**

"Cool!" they shouted again. In their excitement they were all talking at once and high - fiving each other - until Walter's voice broke in saying, **"Now, the arm bands that you looked at earlier - they are my personal favourite."**

"What could be better than shape shifting and stretching?" asked Mike.

 **"I didn't say it was better, just that it is my favourite. And it is my favourite because the AI who helped create it is a personal friend of mine. Those wrist bands are actually Model-Prime Iron Man Armour, also known as Iron Man Armour Model 51."**

Will said, "I know who the Iron Man is, but I've never heard of that armor before. What can it do?"

 **"This armour is the most advanced external super-suit in existence. Its function is to serve as an all-in-one, multi-purpose tool; simply put, it is all of the Iron Man suits in one. Some of its abilities are, of course, super-speed, flight, super-strength and super- endurance. It is equipped with the most advanced weaponry available, and the suit can adapt to any task at hand, including stealth mode, heavy lifting and orbital flight."**

"What are you guys talking about? Those are just bracelets," said Dustin.

 **"No, they are definitely not bracelets. They have been designed using nanotechnology which, when activated, allows the suit to form round the user's entire body. The metal scales smooth themselves out along the body's contours so that the suit becomes one with the user - in fact, the suit is actually connected directly to the user's brain synapses."**

The boys were by now completely speechless and stood staring round them at the incredible items that seemed to have miraculously appeared in Mike's basement.

 **"I would suggest that you proceed to the third room now. The third room is the largest and will require extensive investigation. Only once you have completed your observations will you have access to the entire facility."**

"Come on guys," shouted Dustin, "Only one more room and then we can put on the super suits! Let's go!"

The others followed Dustin as he ran towards the back of the room. Set into the far wall was a large, metal door. The brushed steel glittered invitingly as the boys searched for the mechanism that would roll the door up. They looked everywhere for a control pad and were becoming increasingly frustrated until Mike looked up and said, "What about that huge red button that's hanging there?"

They all laughed at how they had missed the glaringly obvious button hanging right in front of them. Mike reached up and pushed it down. The metal door rolled up with a satisfied sigh - knowing that it was a job well done.

If the boys had been excited before, now they were positively dumbstruck. The room was beyond vast - it stretched out of sight in all directions and even the ceiling was too far away to be seen. But it wasn't just the size of the room that overwhelmed them - it was what the room contained...

The first thing they saw was a shiny black car with a gleaming silver bonnet; it was beautiful to look at, but even more amazing was what the boys couldn't see: it was a Rolls Royce Phantom with a 9 litre V16 engine. Across the way from the Rolls was a huge lorry attached to an overly long trailer. The lorry was gold with royal blue trim and these colours were repeated on the massive trailer.

The boys walked a little further into the room and saw an enormous, pillar box red motor-home. Its silver and black trim sparkled under the overhead lights. The boys stood staring up at the enormous vehicle with their mouths open.

 **"May I suggest you take the train? There is still a fair amount to see and the garage is extremely large."**

As Walter stopped speaking there was a sliding noise and a narrow gauge railway line appeared at their feet. A white, futuristic looking electric train came to a silent stop next to them.

 **"All aboard!"**

The boys climbed aboard and settled themselves into white leather seats. The sides of the train were all glass which provided an uninterrupted view of the area.

 **"As the train proceeds through this facility, you will notice various vehicles that are used for travel on this planet. They have some added features such as bullet proof tyres, bullet proof windows and they cannot get dirty, nor can the paintwork get scratched. They also do four hundred miles to the gallon."**

Lucas exclaimed, "These are all fantastic, but none of us can drive."

 **"Do not worry, I will take care of that for you. Please select your destination now."**

A control panel next to Mike's seat lit up; the different sectors of the garage were listed:

 _Luxury Transport Vehicles_

 _Super and Hyper Transport Vehicles_

 _Special Transport Vehicles_

 _Off Planet Transport Vehicles_

Mike read off the sector names to the others which immediately started an argument about where they should go first. Mike wanted to go straight to the 'Off Planet Transport' sector, but Lucas first wanted to explore the 'Special Transport Vehicles'.

The argument went back and forth until Mike finally shouted, "Well I've got the control panel - so I say we're going to the 'Off Planet Sector' first!" He pressed the button and the train moved forward. The boys stared out at the amazing selection of vehicles that they were passing. After a few minutes the train came to a stop.

 **"You have arrived at your destination."**

The boys disembarked and their jaws dropped open in astonishment; standing on the right hand side of the path was the - no, it couldn't be!

Dustin gasped, "Are you guys seeing this! Or have I gone mad? Is that really the Millennium Falcon?"

Lucas said, "No, it can't be. It's not possible!"

"But I really hope it is!" said Will.

 **"Yes, it is indeed the Millennium Falcon and yes, it can fly."**

"No way!" shouted the boys. They started to run towards the iconic ship, but Walter's voice stopped them.

 **"You won't be able to access the ship until you have explored the rest of this room. Shall we continue?"**

Disappointed, the boys reluctantly turned away from the ship and turned their attention to the next ship. Their disappointment turned to glee as they recognised the unmistakable shape of the star ship USS Enterprise.

Lucas said, "This is too good to be true! Let's quickly search the rest of this room so that we can come back and explore these cool ships properly."

The continued walking towards the next ship, but this one was not familiar to the boys. Instead of a metallic sheen, this ship was pure, bright white and, oddly, it was shaped like a giant running shoe.

"What is that?" asked Will.

 **"That is the most advanced ship in the known universe. It is powered by something called the Infinite Improbability Drive and it is called The Star ship Heart of Gold."**

'What is the Infinite Improbability Drive?" asked Mike. "It sounds impossible."

 **"Not impossible, just highly improbable. It is a wonderful new method of crossing interstellar distances in a mere nothingth of a second, without all that tedious mucking about in hyperspace."**

Dustin said, "That just makes my brain hurt! Let's go on and see what's next."

They walked towards the end of the room where there was a large circular platform made out of some sort of dull grey metal. There were two steps up towards the centre of the platform which was glowing with a pinkish light. As the boys got closer they could see the glow was coming from a series of runes which spiralled around the central point.

"What does that thing do, Walter?" asked Mike.

 **"The last vehicle in this sector is too enormous to fit inside the facility so that is a teleportation device."**

"Where does it teleport you to? Can you go anywhere you like?"

 **"No Sir, the teleportation device can only be used to teleport you onto one particular vehicle. In order to use it, however, you will still need to explore one more sector of the garage. I would recommend the Special Transport Vehicles."**

"Let's go guys!" shouted Lucas excitedly. They all followed him as he ran back to the train. Once they were all aboard the train moved off. They were now travelling back towards the Special Vehicle Sector. They started to discuss what they would do as soon as they were granted full access to all the amazing things that they had so far seen.

"Guys, can this even be possible? Aren't we maybe dreaming?" asked Dustin.

"How can we all be having the same dream?" replied Lucas, "And anyway, what is the definition of 'possible'? What happened to Will wasn't possible...was what El did possible? What is possible?"

"Maybe it's like what Walter said: it's not impossible, it's just highly improbable." said Will.

"Well, possible or improbable, I don't care ...it's happening in my basement, and I want to be Superman!" said Mike. "Let's go back to the Super room."

Will asked, "Can't we go to the comic section first? I really want to check out what that Manga stuff is."

His friends responded with shouts of, "Lame", "No way!" and "Don't be such a dufus!"

Mike said, "Seriously dude, you can read any time you want. But right now we have the chance to be genuine super heroes! We can't waste this chance!"

At that point the train pulled up at the Special Transport Sector. The boys disembarked and the first vehicle they saw was a sleek, silver-grey sports car. At first they didn't recognise it, but then Will shouted, "Hey, I just saw a car like that in one of Jonathan's old movies - you know, the ones about that cool British Spy! Do you think this could be the same one? The one in the movie was full of cool gadgets and it even had an ejection seat!"

 **"That is correct. This is the Aston Martin db5 that has appeared in the James Bond films."**

In the meantime, Mike had walked a bit further on and was standing open mouthed staring at a vehicle that they all recognised immediately: poised on the front of the sleek, black bonnet was the unmistakable Anamorphic Equalizer - its red light fluctuating from side to side.

"It's K.I.T.T!" they shouted."Coooool!"

The boys continued at a run until they came to an unusual looking emerald green car. It didn't look like anything they recognised and they were about to run past when Walter's voice said;

 **"You probably won't recognise that one as it is a Rinspeed Splash - a concept car from Switzerland. Here in Indiana you don't have much use for an amphibious car."**

What do you mean amphibious? Does it hop like a frog or something?" asked Dustin.

"No, you dufus," said Lucas, "not all amphibians hop. But they can all live on land and in water. Is that what you mean, Walter?"

 **"Correct, Sir. The Splash is equally at home on dry land and on the water - similarly, the pearl pink sports car next to it is known as the sQuba: As its name suggests, it is the first car that has ever been able to drive on dry land and convert directly into a submarine."**

"This just keeps getting better and better, dudes!" said Mike

"What is that!" shouted Will, pointing at a black, sinister looking car with extensive armour plating.

"It looks like something Batman would drive if he was in a really bad mood!" said Lucas.

 **"It is actually known as The Tumbler, but you may call it the Batmobile."**

The boys were now completely overwhelmed and could do nothing but stare at the Dark Knight's vehicle. Walter's voice brought them back to their senses."

 **"If you would care to continue, we are nearly at the end of the sector. There are two more vehicles to discover."**

The boys continued towards the next vehicle which looked like a very imposing cash in-transit- vehicle. The back was open and the boys glimpsed what looked to be stacks of banknotes.

 **"You are welcome to step into the back of that van. It has been provided for your convenience. This also happens to be the most indestructible vehicle in this facility as it has been constructed of pure Adamantium for added security."**

Will was the first one to reach the vehicle and as he stepped inside, the familiar sound of clinking coins and cash registers blared out as Pink Floyd's 'Money' started playing.

 ** _Money!...get away…. get a good job with more pay and you're okay_**

 **"At the moment the security van is filled with US dollars"**

 ** _Money!... it's a gas...Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash_**

 **"However it can be filled with any currency, depending on what is needed at the time"**

 _ **New car, caviar, four star daydream, think I'll buy me a football team…**_

Will shouted over the music, "Does that mean we can have as much money as we want - whenever we want it?"

 **"Yes and no. You will have access to it any time you want, however, you cannot abuse it in any way that will compromise the secrecy of this facility. If others find out about it, it will have frightful consequences."**

Will jumped out of the van and the music stopped. He rejoined his friends. The last vehicle in the sector was ahead of them. They had become used to seeing advanced and space age vehicles and so the sight of this last one came as a bit of a surprise: It looked old fashioned and even had a hand crank starter system.

Its extra-long bonnet was made from pure aluminium which gleamed under the overhead lights. The wheel spokes and other metal trim was painted bright red, and the headlights were encased in shiny brass. The number plate read: " _GEN II_ " The boys looked curiously at the vintage vehicle.

 **"Although this car looks to be less advanced than the others, it is the most special: It is a magical and sentient being, known to most people as 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. She has her own personality and often follows her own whims - a fact you should bear in mind if you choose to make use of her ability to float and fly.**

 **If you want to take the vehicles out of the facility, most are able to convert to DynoCaps which can be transported in a pocket. For the other three that cannot transform -Chitty, USS Enterprise and the Millennium Falcon - you will notice yellow portals that appear in the ceiling above them. These portals will allow the vehicles to leave and re-enter the facility.**

 **Well done. You have completed your first task by successfully exploring the first three rooms. In case you are wondering what is in the fourth room, it contains a fleet of robot servants - robots that are programmed to carry out any tasks that you set them-but for now, you can return to your basement. Just remember - you may not tell anyone about this facility otherwise the consequences will be frightful."**

Mike managed to find his voice, "But what if we're not here and someone tries to get in? We won't be able to stop them."

 **"I will take care of it."**

The boys made their way back to the basement and carefully closed the trapdoor. They were too stunned to speak, but they grabbed some Christmas leftovers from the kitchen and made their way up to Mike's bedroom.

Mike was the first one to find his voice, "Okay guys, no arguing..you have to admit defeat. That is, by far, the greatest Christmas present anyone has ever had!"

Dustin said, "Did that all really just happen? Do you seriously have the Millennium Falcon in your basement?"

"If this is all a dream then I say let's enjoy it while it lasts!" said Lucas.

They all agreed and suddenly they were all talking at once and shouting over each other. They each wanted to try something different. Eventually Mike shouted, "Enough, you guys! We are wasting time arguing when we could be superheroes, or traveling to another galaxy! We have to choose something to try first, but we're never going to agree on what, so… let's draw straws. I'll go and get some." With that he ran out of the bedroom and down the stairs.

"Okay, what does everyone want to do first? If I choose the long straw I want to check out those Death Note books," said Lucas, "What about you, Will?"

"I want to start reading all those comic books! And I want to find out what that Manga and Anime stuff is."

"And you, Dustin?"

"I want to be Superman, dudes! I want to be faster than a speeding bullet and be able to see through walls!"

Mike arrived back with the straws as Dustin was speaking. "Okay, let's choose. Whoever gets the long straw gets to choose first. Dustin called Dibs on Superman, so if I win I choose to go on the Millennium Falcon - and I'm sitting in Han's seat!"

Mike held out the straws and each boy took one. The longest straw went to Lucas!

"Oh yes!" he shouted. "Let's do this thing!"

They all stormed out of Mike's bedroom and rushed down the stairs, barely noticing Nancy who shrieked at them as they shot past her and down the stairs to the basement. They opened the trapdoor and made their way to the Super Room. Lucas went over to the table and picked up one of the black pocketbooks. He opened to the middle of the book and let out a huge sigh of disappointment because the pages were completely blank. "Well, that sucks!" he said.

Will was looking over his shoulder and said to him, "Dude, you never start a book in the middle! Go to the first page."

Lucas turned to the first page and muttered, "Uh oh! This isn't good. This must definitely not get into the wrong hands."

The other boys gathered round him and read the words that appeared on the first page;

 **DEATH NOTE**

 **How to Use It**

 ** _The human whose name is written in this note shall die._**

 ** _This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected_**

 ** _If the cause of death is written within the next 40 seconds of writing the person's name, it will happen._**

 ** _If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack._**

 ** _After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds._**

 ** _If the time of death is written within 40 seconds after writing the cause of death as a heart attack, the time of death can be manipulated, and the time can go into effect within 40 seconds after writing the name._**

 ** _You may also write the cause and/or details of death prior to filling in the name of the individual. Be sure to insert the name in front of the written cause of death. You have about 19 days according to the human calendar in order to fill in a name._**

Dustin said, "Put it down Dude! That is some seriously bad shit! Leave it alone - you can choose another one if you want."

"I agree," said Will, "Go ahead and choose another one Lucas."

"Yeah, Okay. I think you're right, this is not something we need to be playing with, Let's go with Dustin's idea and try the Superman suits."

They each took a suit and went into the changing rooms to put them on. They stepped out and had a good laugh at how silly they all looked.

 **"There are a few things I need to tell you before you leave: remember I told you these suits will give you the powers of Silver Age Superman - the most powerful version of Superman. These suits will give you nearly unlimited power when you are in range of a yellow star. However you will have one weakness - radiation from a red star will strip you of your powers.**

 **There are two special features; the first one is that you can summon your suit by singing the beginning of Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now', however you have to be excited or happy when you start singing otherwise it will not work.**

 **The second feature allows you to listen to 'Don't Stop Me Now' when you are flying. You can choose whether other people can hear it, or if it is only audible to you."**

"Walter, what are the extra powers from the Silver Age?"asked Will.

 **"He could fly out of the known universe in a matter of minutes, He could push planets and extinguish stars with his Super-breath, he could play "catch" with moons, Supernovas would only affect him for a millisecond, he could fly straight through a yellow star, he was immune to all diseases, he could survive nuclear explosions and he could learn any language instantly. Those are just a few small examples of what he could do in the Silver Age. He also had no need for food, water or rest."**

The boys stood there in stunned silence. Lucas was the first to speak, "If he can survive nuclear explosions, maybe we can use the suits to end the Cold War!"

Mike said, "Yeah, we could, but let's have some fun first!"

"Okay!," shouted Dustin, "Race you to Mars!"

"Wait guys," said Will, "I think we should start a bit smaller than interplanetary travel! Let's practice a bit on earth first - how about we go down to the park and try out the suits/"

"Are you crazy?" said Dustin, "These are Superman suits - we'll probably blow up the whole neighborhood!"

 **"He does have a point, actually. Mars might be a safer option, just bear in mind that Silver Age Superman could fly at near limitless speed. Perhaps you should take a bit more time and enjoy the scenery."**

The boys turned and ran (at normal speed) until they were back in Mike's basement.

"Mike, how are we going to get past your mom and dad dressed like this?" asked Lucas.

"We can sneak out the back - Let's go!"

The boys successfully reached the back garden without being seen. They all looked at each other, feeling a bit sheepish, until Will put up his arm like Superman and was suddenly floating above the ground. "Whoa! This is so cool! Put up your arms guys, like Superman does."

The boys did as he said and joined Will about two metres off the ground. Mike said, "We have to hurry before someone sees us!"

Lucas said, "Well, if we travel at the speed of light we will reach Mars in about three minutes."

Dustin said, "We don't have to go that fast! But let's just get going."

Slowly they rose higher and higher until they were looking down on Mike's house. The next thing they saw was the whole neighbourhood, then the town, then the whole north eastern seaboard. When they were starting to be able to distinguish the outline of the continent, Dustin shouted, "Last one into space is a rotten egg!"

He shot upwards and the next second they were all shaken by the sonic boom. They didn't need any more encouragement and they all took off at super speed towards the outer limits of the atmosphere. Once through that barrier they were surrounded by the dark silence of space.

The silence was louder than anything Will had ever heard and it made him think about the song Walter had told them about. It was one that Jonathan played often. To overcome the silence he started to hum it to himself and to his surprise it started playing in his head at full volume.

He listened to the first part of the song until Freddie Mercury's voice blared out,

 _ **I'm a shooting star leaping through the sky**_  
 _ **Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity**_  
 _ **I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva**_  
 _ **I'm gonna go go go**_  
 _ **There's no stopping me**_

With no way to communicate with his friends, Will thought to himself, _Uh oh! Here I go!_ He shot off with unbelievable speed.

Mike watched his friend speeding away and decided to follow him. As he darted off Dustin and Lucas went after him. The boys had never experienced anything like the sensation of travelling at super speed through the vacuum of space. At first it was disconcerting because there was no friction and no sound, but once they got used to it they started to really enjoy themselves.

Meanwhile, Will was still enjoying Queen…

 _ **I'm burnin' through the sky yeah**_  
 _ **Two hundred degrees**_  
 _ **That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit**_  
 _ **I'm trav'ling at the speed of light**_  
 _ **I wanna make a supersonic man out of you**_

Before he knew it he had arrived on Mars. His friends joined him momentarily and they stared round in amazement. They were stunned to realise that they were the first humans ever to set foot on Mars.

"That was the coolest experience ever!" shouted Dustin.

"Let's use our super powers to scan the planet for any life forms." suggested Lucas.

Mike used his super hearing, Dustin used his x-ray vision to look underground, Will used his microscopic vision to search for any invisible life, and Lucas used a combination of all three to scan the entire planet. Not surprisingly, they found nothing.

"We should probably tell NASA so that they don't waste any more money sending probes up here." said Lucas.

"Yeah right dude, like they are going to believe us! I can barely believe it and I'm standing here!" said Dustin.

"Well, let's try out the other powers now quickly. I promised my mom I'd be home by dinner time," said Will.

For the next hour the boys experimented with super breath, super strength and their invulnerability. Once they had tried out Superman's main powers they decided to go back to Earth - before they caused any permanent damage to the red planet. They used their super memory and super speed to clean up the most obvious differences that they had made. Once everything was tidy they used their super speed to return to earth. Will encouraged them all to listen to Queen on the way back.

As they were flying past the moon Mike spotted a huge round shape hovering over the dark side, but they couldn't stop to investigate because they needed to be home before dark. _We're definitely coming back to have a closer look at that!_ he thought to himself.

In a couple of seconds they had all landed in Mike's back garden. They went inside at super speed to avoid detection and made their way back to the super room where they took off the suits and placed them back in the cabinets.

"That was the best thing ever!" shouted Lucas, "I can totally be a superhero!"

Will asked, "What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"Maybe tomorrow we can all try different things," suggested Mike, "and I spotted something near the moon that I want to have a closer look at."

"Okay cool, but we'd better all get home before our moms start looking for us." said Lucas. He and Will and Dustin collected their bicycles and set off home. Mike stayed in the basement a bit longer trying to process everything that had happened. He decided that he had to talk to someone so he re-entered the secret facility to speak to Walter.

"Walter, how is this all possible? I just went to Mars and back! I'm not complaining, but I have no idea how this has happened."

 **"Quite frankly, Sir, I have no idea either. I have only been programmed to assist you and to run the facility."**

Mike realised that it was pointless to try to argue with an AI so he decided to eat some more leftovers and try to get some sleep. He would only know by tomorrow if it had all been a dream. The other boys had arrived at the same conclusion and they were all eager to wake up and see if the amazing contents of the secret facility would still be in Mike's basement.


End file.
